Its Associated Newspapers division, which publishes The Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday, reported a 12% fall in revenue for the three months to the end of December 2009.

National advertising revenue fell 11%, however retail display advertising showed signs of improvement, rising by 7% from the same period a year earlier.

The group's regional newspaper arm, Northcliffe Media, reported a 15% fall in revenue to £73m, with advertising sales falling by 13%.

In its overall group results, DMGT experienced a 15% drop in revenue year-on-year to £428m. Its net debt was reduced to £1.03bn, down from £1.05bn in October 2009.

Stripping out its sale of the Evening Standard, the closure of the London Lite freesheet and the termination of its Teletext news service, revenue was down by 8%.

Chief executive Martin Morgan said: "Trading in the first quarter has been ahead of our expectations and the new calendar year has started well, but we remain cautious about the outlook for the rest of the year, particularly in the UK."

The company made 334 redundancies in the quarter, across its A&N Media businesses, which comprises Northcliffe Media, Associated Newspapers and its printing arm Harmsworth Printing.